Double Life: My whole world is you

"Mom (Aunt), we're back." Weiwei and Chengzhu climbed up in one breath and shouted.

Cheng Qiao followed Fang Fang to the back. As soon as they entered, there was a living room. In addition to a broom and mop placed on the right side of the entrance, there was a folding table and several plastic chairs placed at the entrance. These were bought by Cheng's mother at the second-hand market after she moved in. On the left side of the door were two rooms. In addition to a bed made of wooden boards against the wall, there was no decoration, so newspapers were pasted around the bed. One room had a shabby cloth wardrobe, and the other room had a broken table by the window. The window was just a simple 30*50 cm hole. The glass of one window was broken and tied with a plastic bag. On the right side of the door was a simple kitchen, which also had only a small 30*50 cm window, no glass, and no smoke exhaust. There was only a table under the window, a single gas stove on the table, and a gas tank next to it. Cheng's mother was cooking soup, and Cheng Qiao came to the toilet next to the kitchen. The toilet was a bit high, and you had to go up two steps. The door of the toilet was just a simple piece of cloth. The whole house was only about 2.5 meters high. They lived in this house for ten years in their previous life. Although there were a few times when relatives from my uncle's side made trouble, they were all suppressed by my uncle, but Cheng's mother had to listen to their sarcastic remarks. It was not until they bought their own house that Cheng's mother shed tears when she saw the renovated house, "We finally have our own house, and we don't have to worry about being driven out by others anymore." Two years after they bought the new house, the house was demolished and they gave my aunt's family a 120-square-meter elevator school district house as compensation, which was considered a profit.

Cheng's mother turned off the gas stove and shouted to everyone, "It's time to eat."

The four of them stopped what they were doing, Cheng Zhu opened the folding table, Cheng Qiao and Wei Wei went to the kitchen to serve the dishes. Cheng Ma fried a small Chinese cabbage, a cabbage, a lotus root slice, a steamed pork with rice flour and a pig liver paste, plus the roast duck bought by her aunt, which was considered very rich. After everyone sat down at the table, Cheng Ma took out the interlayer on the thermos bottle, put the dishes in it and put it on the rice cooker to warm it.

After dinner, the four of them continued to sit in the living room and peel water chestnuts. Cheng's mother brought the peeled water chestnuts and rice to her aunt.

The four of them were talking and laughing, with Weiwei and Chengzhu doing most of the talking. Fangfang and Chengqiao didn't say much. Chengqiao was thinking about how to write an essay while sharpening the horseshoe.

At almost two o'clock, they peeled more than half of the fruit they brought back, and Weiwei asked Chengzhu to deliver it. Chengzhu had no objection. Cheng's mother always said, "Boys should be more diligent. Otherwise, why would you be happy to have a boy?" So from childhood to adulthood, Chengzhu was the errand king for his sisters. Whenever there was something, they would shout, "Zhu!" When he got older and had a mobile phone, he would call, and finally when he had a car, he would video chat. Chengzhu had a good temper and had no complaints.

But Chengzhu came back and carried half a bag of cement and horseshoes. He was out of breath after going up to the fourth floor, and Weiwei sighed, "Do we still have time to do our homework?"

"Why don't you do it when mom is resting? I wonder how you're going to catch up with all this homework." Fangfang complained.

"Come on, we should be able to finish these in the afternoon!" Cheng Qiao said.

"Business has been good these past few days, and we've hardly had a break," Weiwei said. "We're already very lucky to be able to take some back home to peel. After my mom started working on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, we peeled bananas at the stall for three consecutive days. On the sixth day, the strong wind froze us to death."

"My mother has a harder time. She goes out at three or four in the morning and comes back at nine or ten at night," Fangfang said. "She only has five or six days off during the Chinese New Year in 365 days a year."

It is really hard for my aunt to set up a stall outside. She is exposed to wind, sun and rain, and she only has a big parasol to protect herself. She even has to run to the toilet.

Finally, after four o'clock, they finished peeling all the water chestnuts they brought back. Fangfang poured a basin of hot water for everyone to soak their hands, and Chengzhu took the peeled water chestnuts to deliver. At this time, Cheng's mother came back from outside. She put the dishes in her hand aside and said with a smile, "It's just right that after you peel the water chestnuts, you can accompany me to see which of the two houses you choose."

Cheng Qiao looked at Cheng's mother who came back exhausted and her lips were a little dry, so she got up and went to the kitchen to pour her a glass of water.

"Aunt, are you really going to move out?" Weiwei pulled Cheng's mother's sleeve, "I don't want you to leave."

"Yes! Aunt, I don't want you to leave either. We have food to eat with you, and someone to help us wash our clothes. Please talk to my parents." Fangfang also said.

"It's okay, we're not far away. If you don't have anything to eat, you can come over and eat." Cheng's mother responded gently.

Cheng Qiao saw Cheng's mother finish drinking the water and pulled her, "Come on, Mom, let's go check out the house."

As they got downstairs, Cheng Zhu came back with a large bag of horse hooves. When Cheng Ma saw this, she quickly snatched the bag from his back and climbed up with the horse hooves. Cheng Zhu asked in confusion, "Where are you going?"

"Let's go look at the house." Cheng Qiao walked over and helped him turn up his collar.

Cheng's mother first took them to a dormitory-style house about 3500 meters away from their yard. It was on the fourth floor and had only one room and a living room. Cooking could only be done in the corner of the living room. There were more than ten households in a row, and there was a bathroom on each side of the corridor for everyone to wash clothes and cook. Although it was far from the city, it was close to Chengzhu's elementary school. After arriving, Cheng's mother talked with the landlord for more than ten minutes and finally negotiated a minimum of 10 yuan a year, with yuan per person per month for water and electricity. Cheng's mother said she would think about it tonight and give her a reply tomorrow.

The second location is a house in a community that is across the railway line and only 50 meters away from the city center, but it is a rooftop, staircase house, on the ninth floor!

They waited for a while before the landlord came over. The landlord was a young woman. She was quite honest. “The floor is too high. We wanted to sell the house when we bought it. We put it on the market for several months but it was still unsold. That’s why we thought of renting it out. You are the first tenant.”

Cheng Qiao looked up at the tall building and her legs were shaking a little, but after going up to take a look, she felt excited again. This house was newer than the other one and had two rooms. Both rooms were painted white. One room had a balcony and the other room had a Simmons bed. There was a separate bathroom with a washbasin separated by a partition. There was also a small dining room and the kitchen had a stove and exhaust fan. There was also an empty terrace on the roof, which was convenient for drying clothes and quilts.

Cheng's mother looked at such a nice house and thought the price must be high. Unexpectedly, the other party was very straightforward and said directly, "Sister, I won't hide it from you. This room is our wedding room. We are under pressure just buying a house, but we also want to find someone reliable who won't destroy our house. I see that you are satisfied. There is a third floor in the building in front of our community that is rented out for 4500 yuan a year. You and I are destined to be together, so I will give you 4000 yuan a year. This is the lowest price my husband and I have agreed on."

Cheng's mother held the young woman and talked her into it. The young woman finally gave in and lowered the price to 3700 yuan per year. Cheng's mother looked at the house carefully and was indeed satisfied. She finally told her mother about her situation with tears in her eyes. Cheng's mother rarely talked about her family's situation in public. The young woman's eyes were red. "Sister Wang, it's not easy for you. I'll call my husband to see what the lowest price is for renting to you."